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very little relationship to how the Ballistic Breaker works.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

PCT Patent application link & status report on Ballistic Breaker™

The Ballistic Breaker is called a "commutating circuit breaker" in both my US and PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) patent applications. I decided to post my (now published) PCT patent application here to make it easy to access. The PCT patent application also adds a little bit more subject matter and a few more claims over my earlier US patent application.

The patent application applies to numerous implementations of the basic concept: 
  • linear motion actuation or rotary actuation; 
  • multiple stages can be used to divide the voltage so as to allow high voltage ballistic breakers with many stages;
  • gradation of the resistivity of trailing edges of the electrodes to further inhibit arcing upon electrode separation;
  • motion can be actuated by springs, gas pressure, stepper motors, or stretched wire or fibers (for example);
  • Use of correlated magnetic domains to accurately define the on state of the circuit breaker (subsidiary to US patent 8,098,122 to Correlated Magnetics);
  • Use of piezoelectric actuators as super-fast releases.

For a quick introduction to Ballistic Breakers, check these links: 



I recently filed a continuation-in-part US utility patent application that is based on both my February 6, 2012 US patent application and my PCT patent application, but adding in a bit more IP and two more claims.